Independence War 2: The Edge of Chaos

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Never played through part 1? Don't worry, you may not be alone as you play through the sequel.

By IGN Staff

Welcome to Independence War, where future Earth and its colony stars constitute a so-called Commonwealth which is home to the space patrolling Commonwealth Navy. This isn't the Earth we (well, most of us) know of. Clashing interests between Earth and the colonies have resulted in a massive interstellar guerrilla war, and the planet is now in a dire state, with the Indies, an independence movement brought about by the citizens of the colonies, standing in fierce defiance of the Commonwealth Navy.

Independence War was released to the PC back in late 1998 and had you assume the role of a Commonwealth Naval officer who was out to take on the Independence Movement for all it was worth. The game stood out from the pack of interstellar flight games due primarily to its insistence on realistic physics. How realistic? We'll quote IGNPC's review on this one: "The realistic physics, although difficult to get used to at first, give Independence War a genuine feel. Since there is very little friction in space your ship slides when you make a sharp bank. This can be disorienting and dangerous as you slow when turning, thereby making yourself an easy target. But it can also be very helpful as you can fling your ship around with your lateral thrusters faster than you can make a full bank, making your Dreadnaught one powerful and maneuverable weapons platform." Good lord, that's alotta detail!

The game was also recognized for its nonstandard approach to the space sim genre. You weren't flying a small fighter plane, but were instead in charge of a medium sized multi-role space vessel and had to take control of all four major stations of the ship: pilot, navigation, engineering, and combat. So I guess you were part Ensign Rowe, part La Forge and part Warf. Needless Next Generation references aside, it was generally agreed that Independence War, was a unique and exhilarating experience, albeit just a bit on the overwhelming side, as too much was required of you during a mission.

Enter the game's sequel, first announced by Infogrames late last month (see this story). Developer Particle Systems is apparently aiming to create a similar experience, focusing on the logistics and physics involved in space simulation, while providing us with cool story line and dynamic characters. This time around, we can expect a better user interface, which solves some of the difficulties found in having to pilot the many different sections of the ship in part 1. And best of all, Dreamcast gamers will be able to have a go at it this time around, as a DC version is scheduled to hit simultaneously with its PC counterpart.

As the story of the sequel goes, one hundred years have passed since the original Independence War ended. In the Badlands Cluster, a group of eight lower-than-life star systems, the flotsam of the universe are ready to fight back against the oppression of greedy corporations. Cal Johnston has plans for revenge against those who fifteen years earlier murdered his father, and with the help of a small band of escaped prisoners, inadvertently triggers a rebellion. And with that, history prepares to repeat itself.

In the sequel, you play as Cal himself, and you're able to do all sorts of things, like piloting a number of customizable starships, barterting and stealing weapons and systems for your ships, and engaging in pirating, looting, raids, and battles. You're now given even more control over your ship, thanks to the inclusion of an engineering panel which allows players to monitor and customize the ship's energy resources. In addition to this massive sense of complete ship control, the Independence War experience is all about freely roaming a virtual universe, and the sequel lets you do this on a larger scale than before by offering sixteen different star systems which are populated by dynamically generated space traffic.

One thing we're hoping Particle keeps basically the same for the sequel is the nature of the missions. We already know that the game will feature a combination of guided and free-roaming gameplay, but we're really interested in seeing the mission objectives, which in part one strayed from the search and destroy missions of other space games and fit in as part of a storyline, return. What was really cool about part one was how the mission objectives often changed in mid mission, making for a more involving game experience. Hopefully we'll see something similar this go around.

Regardless, the sequel will already benefit from the inclusion of online play, at least for the PC version, where you'll go online for death match and team missions. In speaking with Infogrames, we learned that the online component is currently up in the air for the Dreamcast. However, seeing as how development on the Dreamcast version has only just now started, and the game isn't scheduled to ship on the PC and DC until later this year, it's certainly a possibility that Dreamcast won't be left out of the online party.

Infogrames is expected to show only the PC version at E3, but that's good enough for us! We'll be back then with a full play test of what could be the Dreamcast's only space flight game this side of Armada. Now where the hell did Jump Runner jump or run off to?